Middle school pain leads to high school success

Like a lot kids, Meredith Stolte had a tough time in middle school.

“Middle school was the time I accidentally shaved off one of my eyebrows,” Stolte writes in a speech on the subject of self-love. “It was also the time when a haircut gone horribly wrong left me looking like David Bowie. Needless to say, there is an assortment of reasons why I should look back on middle school with pain in my heart.

“In all seriousness, though, I look back on middle school with sadness not for the astounding amount of awkwardness, but because those were the years I learned the fine art of self-hatred. In all my memory, from fifth grade on until just very recently, I cannot recall a time when I was kind to or content with myself.”

Stolte is far removed from middle school today. She’ll be graduating from Columbia Falls this year as one of the top students in her class, having won three state championships in speech and debate.

But her look back at the pain of middle school and the power she found in self-love, which she takes pains to distinguish from today’s common narcissism, has culminated in a speech performance that has earned her a spot in the National Speech and Debate Association’s Speech and Debate Tournament in Dallas, Texas in June.

Stolte earned her spot in the tournament by winning a state qualifying event in Billings earlier this year, beating high school students from larger and smaller schools from across Montana.

Stolte has been working on the speech since the beginning of the school year. She’s performed it dozens of times over the past year but doesn’t tire of it — the speech won her a state Class A championship in original oratory.

“I’ve made a lot of revisions,” she said. “It’s entirely different than it was at the beginning of the school year.”

After graduation, Stolte plans to attend St. Olaf College in Minnesota, about an hour south of Minneapolis. She wants to get a doctorate in history and teach college, or perhaps pursue a law degree.

For now, she’s trying to raise enough funds to make the national competition, a trip that will cost about $4,000 for her and her coach, Kim Gange, to attend.

Stolte has started an online campaign at www.gofundme.com/Stolte_Nationals. To date, community and business support has been great — she said she’s already raised nearly $1,500 toward her trip expenses.

A dinner fundraiser will be held at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Columbia Falls on Sunday, April 12, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Stolte is the daughter of Camie and Trever Stolte. She says competing in speech and debate through high school has enriched her life experience, making her a far more articulate person.

“It’s a skill you learn that you use all the time in life,” she said.

To listen to Stolte present her speech, visit online at www.whitefishcommunityradio.com/flathead-focus-podcast Episode No. 9.